December
21st Micah
4
B.
Future glory because of past promises
(The last days)
The
Kingdom coming
1:
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the
house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto
it. 2:
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law
shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3:
And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar
off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4:
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree;
and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts
hath spoken it. 5:
For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we
will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
Israel
will return
6:
In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I
will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7:
And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far
off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion
from henceforth, even for ever. 8:
And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of
Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom
shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9:
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy
counseller perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
10:
Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a
woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and
thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon;
there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from
the hand of thine enemies. 11:
Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be
defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12:
But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they
his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.
13:
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn
iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces
many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and
their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Micah
5 (The first coming of Christ) The Lord’s Christ of Bethlehem
1:
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid
siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod
upon the cheek. 2:
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting. 3:
Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which
travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall
return unto the children of Israel. 4:
And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the
majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for
now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. 5:
And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into
our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise
against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. 6:
And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land
of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the
Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within
our borders. 7:
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a
dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not
for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8:
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of
many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion
among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down,
and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. 9:
Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine
enemies shall be cut off. 10:
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will
cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy
chariots: 11:
And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy
strong holds: 12:
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have
no more soothsayers: 13:
Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of
the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine
hands. 14:
And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I
destroy thy cities. 15:
And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such
as they have not heard.
Micah
6 C Present repentance because of past redemption
The
Case against Israel
1:
Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the
mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2:
Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD's controversy, and ye strong
foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his
people, and he will plead with Israel. 3:
O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied
thee? testify against me. 4:
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out
of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam. 5:
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what
Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye
may know the righteousness of the LORD. 6:
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the
high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves
of a year old? 7:
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten
thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my
transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8:
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God? 9:
The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall
see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10:
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and the scant measure that is abominable? 11:
Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of
deceitful weights? 12:
For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants
thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their
mouth. 13:
Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee
desolate because of thy sins. 14:
Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be
in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not
deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
15:
Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives,
but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt
not drink wine. 16:
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of
Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a
desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye
shall bear the reproach of my people.
Micah
7 D Pardoning of sin because of who God is and what he does.
Israel
is corrupt
1:
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as
the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my
soul desired the firstripe fruit. 2:
The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright
among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his
brother with a net. 3:
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh,
and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his
mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4:
The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a
thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now
shall be their perplexity. 5:
Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the
doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6:
For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against
her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's
enemies are the men of his own house. 7:
Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my
salvation: my God will hear me. 8:
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;
when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. 9:
I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned
against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he
will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness. 10:
Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her
which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold
her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. 11:
In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the
decree be far removed. 12:
In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from
the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and
from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13:
Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell
therein, for the fruit of their doings.
But
the Lord loves Israel
14:
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which
dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed
in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15:
According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I
shew unto him marvellous things. 16:
The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they
shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17:
They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our
God, and shall fear because of thee. 18:
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by
the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not
his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19:
He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue
our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of
the sea. 20:
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Micah
sets out the future glory of the coming kingdom based on past
promises. He says that in the last days it will happen that the
mountain of the Lords house will be established on the top of the
mountains (of Judea). Zion the mountain of the Lord will be lifted up
above all the hills and the people of Lord and the nations of the
earth will flow like an endless stream to Zion. They will all say let
us go to the house of the Lord. They will seek the Lord to know his
will and to live lives of righteousness and the Law of the Lord will
go out from Zion. The Lord will sit in judgment over the whole earth.
He will rebuke countries who are afar. They will change their weapons
of war into agricultural implements. There will never be any war
again and nobody will ever learn the arts of war again. Everyman will
sit in the shade of his own vine or under his own fig tree and no
body will be afraid. All the people of the earth will live according
to the word of the Lord. In that day the Lord will gather all those
who are lame and her that is an asylum seeker and those who are
afflicted. They will become the Lords people forever. The kingdom
will come to the daughters of Jerusalem. Next Micah recounts the
prophecy regarding the coming of Christ to Bethlehem. The governor of
the earth will come from Bethlehem. When Assyria seeks to invade
Israel this invasion will be repelled and Israel will conquer
Assyria. Next Micah records the controversy that the Lord has with
his own people. The Lord asks why Israel is set against him and then
he recounts the history of his kindness to them. Then he asks the
Rhetorical question, what do l require of Israel? But to do the just
thing, to love mercy and to walk before the Lord in humility. The
Lord will not allow Israel to be happy without Him. He will make
their food not satisfy them. They will have no deliverance in all
their troubles. They will sow but not reap. They will tread the
olives but have no oil. They will tread the grapes but have no wine.
Israel will have no peace because of their spiritual separation from
the Lord. Micah describes Israel’s sorry state. There are no good
men – no righteous men. The best of them is like a thorn. There is
division in the family. Yet Micah seeks the Lord for his blessing. He
says my God will hear me. Micah continues to describe the vision he
sees of the Lords people. He is confident in the goodness of the
Lord. He says the Lord is a God who forgives and pardons iniquity. He
is not angry forever but delights in mercy.
- What do we learn about the Temple in the Kingdom?
- What does Micah promise regarding Bethlehem?
- How does Micah bring a message of hope?
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